Pregnancy Style Diary, week 16 | The power of the ruched dress

Hello everyone! Did you have a favorite dress when you were pregnant?

Today I might have just found mine. My baby bump is growing fast, and I had to finally announce (or, better, communicate matter-of-factly to my terrible department chair) my pregnancy at the office. Because of the combination of these two circumstances, I needed something to wear for an important meeting about hiring strategies for this year, and I did not have to scare away from bump revealing options. But I am not ready for maternity wear yet! (who is it ever anyway?)

The answer came in the form of this Michael by Michael Kors side ruched dress. It is a bit more bodycon that I usually wear (or dare) but it won me over with its side zipper, which creates a really nice silhouette effect. What do you think?

P.S. Click here for more posts in the "What I wore through my pregnancy" series.

Pregnancy Style Diary, week 15 | When you just look fat

Hello everyone! I am quite excited because today I am turning 15 weeks.

It is the point, I realized, when you just look fat. The nice, round belly that will eventually signal to everyone your condition has yet to develop, and you exhibit only an inflated stomach. My outfit options are dropping by the minute. The t-shirt + (pregnancy-modified) jeans combination that I have been sporting in the past few weeks has just become a no-no. Fortunately I still have an extra-flowy blouse for my business meeting on Monday that should cover up enough without raising suspicion (situation at the office is quite complicated and I hope to hold on a bit longer before telling anyone). Oh wait -- they are forecasting the first two days of really cool weather for the beginning of next week. What does that leave me with then?

P.S. Click here for more posts in the "What I wore through my pregnancy" series.


Photo: Getty.

Pregnancy Style Diary, week 11 | Breaking the jeans barrier

Hello everyone! What did you wear through your pregnancy?

I meant to write a series on this topic for while, and it seems fitting to do it now that I am pregnant again. I hope you enjoy it and share your experience with me!

To catch you up on my style journey so far, today's first couple of posts in the series look back at the end of my first trimester and the beginning of the second one.

In her editorial to the October issue of Flare, newly-appointed editor Miranda Purves thinks back to the year she left her job at Elle in New York in order to be a Stay at Home Mom or, as she shortens it, SAHM, "the pronunciation of which sounds like a sexless childcare robot".  Miranda indicates that the hardest part of having left her job was "missing her clothes" or "more accurately, the daily creative act of dressing."

I understood so well what she meant. Even though I have not left my job, this summer I had decided to be a SAHM too, and to let go of the pressure of squeezing a few hours of research in between playdates and outings at the parks in order to concentrate on what was important (yes, Hands Free Mama, you are a great inspiration to me): my son, and getting our family settled back into our house in Canada.

Two days after we landed, I found out I was pregnant, and my plans changed. As I written earlier in this post, I have been functional for two-to-three hours a day for most of the summer. My biggest activity consisted of driving my son to summer camp and picking him up. Sometimes make an occasional outing to the grocery store. Needless to say I had zero incentives to get dressed in the morning. In addition, during my first pregnancy, I had not gained any weight until well past 25 weeks. This time around, likely because I was at one of my all-times-low-weight points (thank you, move-related stress!), I was not able to button those bright colored pants I had stocked up in Italy almost right after the pregnancy test turned positive.

Last time I had also been pregnant during the summer, and I had given birth earlier than expected in early Fall. When I opened the box of maternity clothing I have been carrying around through 2 moves and one year of storage, it was obvious that almost nothing was weather-suitable for this pregnancy. I also have to confess that during my first pregnancy I felt badly dressed and uncomfortable, and I definitely do not want to repeat the experience this time. I realize now how important it is, through the many changes your body undergoes, to feel fabulous in what you wear! The little stuff I had in my "maternity wear" box went straight to the Salvation Army and I savaged only a pair of dressy grey pants and two sweaters.

Luckily for me, when out went the pants-wearing options, a quite large number of possibilities opened in terms of my breezy summer dresses, accumulated over time to face the summer heat in Italy and recently updated with the two Marni for H&M ones I scored back in February. I kept this array of dresses on heavy rotation during the summer months, and I felt surprisingly stylish in spite of the nausea and constant fatigue.

The temperature will start dropping soon, however, so I decided to tackle the "bottom" problem. I set off for Bloom Maternity, an up-scale maternity store in the neighbourhood, where I had gotten my designer maternity jeans last time. I am sure you know this stuff does not come cheap, unless there is a GAP maternity store in your neighbourhood (which is definitely not the case in Québec). I was thus thrilled to find out that Bloom Maternity now offers customers the option of converting into maternity styles their own jeans. For 40 bucks a pop, the jeans' waist gets removed and replaced with a maternity stretchy band. For another 40 bucks, you can then bring back the jeans to their pre-pregnancy silhouette. If you do the math, what you end up spending is way less than the cost of designer maternity jeans, but could still be a bit pricey. What I did is thus the following: converted two pairs of designer jeans and two pairs of cheaper jeans styles, the latter two with the idea of getting rid of them at the end of the pregnancy. One of the styles I had tailored is a simple pair of GAP 1969 black cropped jeans, which I can easily use as workwear in the Fall thus eliminating the need for dressy black pants. Voilà. I reconquered my jeans closet.

P.S. Click here for more posts in the "What I wrote through my pregnancy" series.

A good long weekend

Hello everyone and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

I am relaxing on the couch after a good, long weekend centred around food, family and friends. Usually, I do not like the fact that Thanksgiving in Canada comes so early (it has to do with the fact that the harvest season here is earlier than in the US, apparently). School has just started and my work rhythm is picking up, so that I am not yet in holiday season mode. Heck, Halloween is still almost a month away!

This year I loved it though. Living in the US for half a decade has made me love the Thanksgiving spirit, and last year a missed terribly not celebrating it while we were in Italy. How best to catch up than starting to embrace the holiday spirit right now?

I still believe that Americans do it better than Canadians. First, let's talk sales. It would be nice to have our own Black Friday. Second, why have Thanksgiving on Monday, when people have to go back to work bright and sharp on Tuesday morning? I would really need a couple of extra days to recover and cleanup; I know that now the dirty plates will hunt me until next weekend... Still, who cares? I had a great time.

P.S. In case you were wondering, here is our Thanksgiving menu:

Appetizers, from my mom's kitchen
I make two types of toasts. First, a shrimp cocktail toast (on top of half a slice of toasted bread, layer one shrimp dipped into a classic rose cocktail sauce, made with ketchup, mayo, and a touch of Worcester sauce). Second, a mozzarella-and-prosciutto toast (on top of half a slice of toasted bread, layer the cocktail sauce from above, then a slice of buffalo mozzarella, and then a slice of prosciutto).

Butternut Squash Soup, from the classic recipe by the Joy of Cooking with my own twist.
The twist is that, at the moment of adding the butternut squash pulp to the leeks, I also add 2 cups of pumpkin cut into 1 inches cubes, which adds a kick to the butternut squash's delicate flavour. The other thing I do extra is that I make my own stock by boiling for half an hour 2 large celery sticks, 1 large carrot and 1 onion. I roast the squash and I make the broth the day before so that when I wake up of Thanksgiving day I just need to assemble the soup. (I use the broth for the stuffing as well).

Dried Apricot and Date Stuffed Turkey Breast with Marsala Glaze, from this recipe by Fine Cooking.
It is the best stuffed turkey recipe I have ever tried, and it is incredibly easy to make. The stuffing can be made one day ahead and refrigerated.

Cranberry Sauce, by my friend Jacob's secret recipe (sorry, I cannot pass that one on)

Sides: A classic mashed potatoes, which works well for the kids too, steamed brussels sprouts, a spinach salad, and apple and sausage stuffing.

For dessert, this year I tried Emeril Lagassi's recipe for the pecan and chocolate chip pie, which was delicious (I made my own chocolate "chunks" from a Lindt chocolate bar).

Getting ready for Fall, part 2 | Be the constant editor

Hello everyone! Have you transitioned your closet into Fall?

After completing the great purge of my closet last week, today I focused a bit more on editing, thinking forwards to the additions I would like to make for Fall.

It is so easy now that everything is within easy reach, on display and nicely organized! Editing at this point just means making sure that what is on display reflects what I can actually wear. For instance, I had kept out a few thick cotton sweaters, and lighter blouses, for transition dressing. Now, however, the minimum temperature is staying constantly below five degrees celsius, and those had to be put away. I replaced them with a few lighter knits, thick scarves and gloves. Even if I am not laying out my outfit the night before, grabbing things on the go from my closet is super-easy in the morning!

P.S. If you are still struggling through your closet's transition to the new season, remember my mantra: divide strategically your closet items, take stock of what you have, then think about what your needs are, and never, ever, let your closet wear you down! Also, don't forget to check out Emily's tips in this post.


Photo: Cupcakes and cashmere.

FW12 trends | The Fall face

Hello everyone! What are you up to this weekend?

I had an incredibly good, productive Friday, and a long weekend ahead -- on Monday we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. Aside from cooking, my top priority is blogging! I have a lot of things to share.

Continuing with the series on the Fall trends, today I'd like to talk about makeup. Mark your calendar, because this is not something I am very much into. I am a fresh-face-for-lack-of-time kind of gal. Perhaps also because my skin is super-sensitive, so that most makeup (including facials and the like) is off limits to me.

Wasn't I glad that, in this season of extremes, the "nude" look is as much in fashion as the burgundy lips. I decided to make a commitment to wear makeup regularly (I am pregnant, so I want to look at my best in spite of the hormones, right?), and an investment in an eyeshadow.

Since about a month ago, I spend Fridays at an office downtown (more on this in another post), which gives me the opportunity of window-shopping a bit, and pass through the concentration of stores and department stores that stretches between Sherbrooke and Saint Catherine Street. With a torn page from Vogue in hand, a couple of weeks ago a paid a visit to the Dior outpost in Holt Renfrew. Sure enough, I went in for an eyeshadow, was given a full makeup, and went home with a bag full of new products. Quite daring, considering that I was not sure how my skin was going to react -- the furthest I had gone so far was Clinique... The friendly salesperson reassured that, should I have had any allergic reaction, I could return the whole package, so I felt I had nothing to lose. I discovered a whole new world! In fact, the only product I had not bought was the mascara, but went back for it a few days later.

My routine now consists of the following:

• Face cream. I stick with my Vichy Aqualia Thermal "Light" Cream, which has never given me any problem. If you have a sensitive skin, I totally recommend it.

• Eye cream. I invested in Clinique's new Even Better Eyes Dark Circle Corrector, and so far I am happy about it but not thrilled. What I like about it is that it has a slight shimmery tint, which illuminates the under-eye area immediately upon application; but my dark circles do not seem to have much improved yet.

• Foundation. My Dior makeup session made me discover Dior's Airflash spray foundation. It is light and supereasy to apply, and it is the first one that does not make my skin itch after a few hours. It evens my skin tone perfectly, and stays on the whole day.

• Bronzer and blush. I am still holding on to two Clinique's products I have been using for a while: the Almost Bronzer (in light/medium), and the Gradient Powder Blusher (in black honey). I apply the bronzer first to even my skin tone, and then the blush on the cheeks.

• Eyeshadow. I totally swear by Dior's eyeshadow in the fall palette "Earth Reflection", although I am still learning how to properly apply it.

• Mascara. I never thought my lashes could look longer than with Dior's Iconic Mascara. There is no going back. In fact, I feel the mascara is more effective than the undereye cream when I want to conceal my tiredness...

• Lipstick. I have been addicted to Dior's Addict Lipstick for a couple of years, but I had grown a bit tired of it and its pinky glow. Now I replaced it with Rouge Dior Nude Lip Blush in Nude, which totally achieves the nude lip look for me.

• Nails. At the nail salon, I also discovered a new Essie color that perfectly complements my nude makeup: BFF Best Boyfriend. Give it a try, I love it!

The Fall Fashion Edit | Go big or go home

Hello everyone! Ready for Fall fashion?

Since the September Issue, all fashion channels have been quite busy pushing on us customers the fall trends. In Italy, this would be a one shot affair. "The Trends" are like the Ten Commandments, and are pretty much written in stone by the time the Fall collections hit the stores. This is because, as you may remember I wrote a while back (I just wish I could find that post), Italian women mainly shop the old fashioned way -- in person, in the store.

Now that we are back in North America, I have found myself immersed again in the flood of commercial emails that showcase on daily basis this or that aspect of the Fall trends, which requires (according to them) my wallet's most immediate attention. As the flood hits, I always have the feeling to get lost, to forget what the key trends actually are.

I found my way back thank to the July (yes, July!) issue of Vogue. From me, to you, here is what I think is the best synthesis of the Fall trends:

If you're the kind of woman who likes anonymity in her wardrobe--who prefers the utilitarian uniform of an all-white pantsuit or a little black shift to any bold statement of personal style--this, frankly, isn't your season. Hold on to your hats: Fall is going to blow in like a gale, on the winds of what we're calling hyperfashion--all the best pieces exaggerated, pushed to the nth degree. Prints are kinetic or magnified. Fabrics are slicked up or metallicized. Even minimalist silhouettes are coming on stronger, pieced together in cool intersecting planes of flat, powerful colour. Many of the best workday looks fall from shoulders as wide as clothes hanger. Hair is windblown, lips a slash of unabashed matte red. Chic is a confidence game. Go big or go home." 

Indeed, as Sarah Mower writes in another piece from the same issue, "2012 will surely go down as the year fashion exploded." From opulent embellishments (think back to the Chanel's show at Versailles-- it was Cruise, I know, but you get my point) to oversized minimalism (think to the small presentation of Celine's oversized everything); from the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (think leather galore) to Anna Karenina (think Louis Vuitton journey to opulence); from oxblood to pastels; and beyond. This is Fall 2012. Stay tuned as I'll try to dissect it a bit in the next posts.


Photos: Chanel at Versailles by Societe Perrier; Celine's oversize coat by Celine; Louis Vuitton ad campaign by Purseblog; leather galore by Fashion Bomb Daily.